Abstract
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a non-curable disease. Although we seem to have a definitive surgical solution for ulcerative colitis, patients are at risk of suffering from acute and chronic pouchitis as well as peri- and postoperative complications. In Crohn's disease medical treatment is able to prolong surgery-free survival, but no definitive healing strategy is as yet at hand. Moreover, effective medication exposes patients to potentially life-threatening complications. The severely compromised patient in particular needs careful surveillance and requires a balanced treatment strategy endorsed by gastroenterologists and surgeons. Treatment is still aimed at suppressing immune mechanisms and is far from being causal. Nevertheless, this approach has resulted in a reduction in surgical procedures and hospitalizations. The following overview covers special issues related to strategies for severe and fulminant flares of inflammatory bowel disease.
Translated title of the contribution | Intensive care and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD): The severe and fulminant flare |
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Original language | German |
Journal | Internist |
Volume | 52 |
Issue number | 7 |
Pages (from-to) | 833-842 |
Number of pages | 10 |
ISSN | 0020-9554 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 01.07.2011 |